Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days E3 preview

Kane and Lynch are back with the Shanghai underworld as the setting and a game base that spans 48 hours. The second entry in the franchise, entitled Dog Days, was on display at the Square Enix/Eidos booth at E3, and while the game purportedly has a robust single-player campaign the spotlight was on the multiplayer modes, particularly the Fragile Alliance mode - which was also featured in the first game.

Fragile Alliance allows a team of players (online) to steal money and get away with it by gunning down all the opposing forces. However, the mode can turn if a single player in the group goes traitor, starts killing his accomplices for the loot. A bounty is issued for that player and the rest of the group can hunt him (or her - whatever the gender of the player behind the character). Another multiplayer mode is Cops and Robbers, featuring two groups of six players and the third mode - which is new - is Undercover Cop. Undercover Cop is like Fragile Alliance with the exception that one player is actually an undercover cop and he is tasked with taking down the group as quietly as possible.

The art direction for the game is a little on the different side. It sports a grainy look that is trying to emulate the type of video one might see on YouTube or shot under harsh lighting conditions with a low-end handheld video camera. There is also a ranking system in place, and the game does try to capture the whole underworld scene with liberally sprinkled expletives.

Generally the controls seemed pretty stock for the genre.

Scheduled for release this year, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days will be available on the PS3 and 360 platforms.